Comfort
by aTaCo9
Summary: Another dark & twisted work meant to be set in the Headcanon universe (or a very close parallel). Mako confronts Bolin after his capture by Amon. Warnings: non-con, rape, underage, angst, hurt/comfort, gang rape, second person POV (for extreme feels). Bolin/Equalists, Bolin/Amon, Bolin & Mako, Amonolin. The second chapter is a sequel, inspired by prompts from Bolinlover123.
1. Chapter 1

When he was six you hugged him every time he awoke from a terrible nightmare. Crying out in the dark he would reach for you, and you were there, always right there, ready to hold him and rub him and reassure him that even though mom and dad were gone you would never leave him.

When he was eight you bandaged his torn knees after a hard topple during a streetmatch. There was blood everywhere and it seemed like half the skin was missing, but you had a supply of fresh white bandages ready for situations like this. Afterwards you kissed his legs right above the wounds, and he looked up at you and giggled through his tears.

When he was eleven you stayed up with him all night long when he had the flu. He was moaning and thrashing on the cot and you held him still, forcing him to drink water and carefully sponging off his sweaty forehead with a damp rag. In his delirium he called you _mom_ several times, but you decided not to tell him about it afterwards, not even when he infuriated you.

When he was thirteen you held his hand as he got stiches on his shoulder. Biting his lip and maintaining a stoic expression, only his squeezes on your fingers indicated that he felt pain. When it was over you told him how proud of him you were, how grown up he was now, and he flashed you a grin a mile wide before running back to play with his friends.

When he was fifteen you rubbed his back while he cried after his first breakup. He was laying on his stomach and had his head buried in the pillow, and you sat down next to him as he muffled his sobs. Suddenly he was sitting up, clutching at your front, and you wrapped your arms around him tightly. You felt your heart breaking at his sadness even as your shirt became damper and damper.

But now Bolin is sixteen and you have no idea what to do. You have him back from his encounter with Amon, and he still has his bending, thank the spirits. It was only after he was safely home that you noticed the bruises on his arms and the bloodstains on his pants. When you ask him what happened he starts to tremble and his eyes won't meet yours. You press him, and eventually he tells you, shaking and looking at the floor, that Amon's guards had forced themselves on him last night, and you can't think of any possible way to react to this. Sitting and staring seems appropriate, and his lips are quivering and you don't even think to reach for him.

You haven't felt rage like this since the night your parents were murdered. Fire seethes inside of you, and suddenly you cry out in pain. Your hands are smoking and are wrapped in flames, as if you were once again a small child with no control. You shake the sparks out, glad that your leather gloves are there to protect your palms.

He starts to cry and your reaction is instantaneous, instinctual. You cross the space between you and embrace him tightly. You love him so much, so fucking much, and impossible emotions are coursing through your chest: indescribable rage, a horrible pity, and the deepest sadness that you have ever experienced. For him, for what was done to him, for what he has lost. You hold him and you rub him and you angrily brush the tears out of your eyes before he can see them. You have to be strong for him, there for him, ready to comfort him.

Just like you always have been.


	2. Chapter 2

You hate that now he jumps when you touch him. Before The Incident he couldn't wait for you to get home, from your chores, the gym, the power plant. You would turn the key and half the time he was right there in the doorway, blocking your entrance with his massive arms outstretched.

He hasn't once reached for you since the night he was brought home.

You tell yourself it's fine, that he'll be okay and that he just needs time. But secretly—buried so deep you don't even admit it to yourself—you're worried that he might never recover from this.

You replay the conversations you had that night over and over and over again, the details that you didn't want to know but now can't forget. How he had been saving his first time for someone special, because it didn't seem right to do it with a fangirl, a stranger. How it had hurt, probably even more than he let on if his bruises and winces are anything to judge by. How there had been so many of them and they had laughed at his tears, enjoyed it when he cried out, and they hadn't cared if he bled or choked or tore.

You shake your head, clearing this last thought from your mind. Best not to dwell there if you want to sleep tonight.

Despite the dark thoughts that are now your constant companions, the world continues on largely unaltered. You're resentful than Korra doesn't notice—how can she not see that he holds himself differently now, that his shoulders curve in and his eyes are constantly trained on the ground? Doesn't she hear that his laughter sounds forced and his voice strained? Why doesn't she remark on the haunted glint that shadows his eyes every time a loud noise sounds or someone touches him unexpectedly?

After the match with the Buzzard Wasps, Bolin drags himself to bed and almost immediately falls into a fitful doze. Sometime in the night you awake to the sounds of him weeping, and you literally _can't_ just lie there while his injured shoulder is causing him so much pain, not after all that he has been though. You cross the room, shuffling on the floor loudly so he knows your intentions, and when you reach his cot you purposefully tap your leg on its side. Slowly, carefully, as if he were a rare and fragile collectable, you brush against his back, urging him to make a space for you. He rolls over and faces the wall, lying on his good arm, and a surge of relief courses through your stomach.

You crawl into bed next to him and gradually inch closer until your chest is pressed into his back. You're taller, and your legs curve against his comfortably, but you're careful to maintain a few inches distance between your hips and his. Rubbing his shoulder blades in small circles and letting your body temperature rise slightly so as to warm him, memories assault your mind, pulling you into the past. You've been in this position countless times with him, after nightmares, during cold nights, and whenever he was sick or hurt. To you he will always be so young, childlike and innocent, even if you now know that to be an illusion. Protectiveness and affection threaten to overwhelm you, and you refuse to acknowledge the droplet of water that you can feel hanging from your nose.

When you were younger you used to tease him about his affinity with the earth: _you're as stubborn as a rock, stop being so rock headed,_ or _do you have rocks in between your ears?_ But lately you've come to realize that a rock is actually the perfect metaphor for Bolin. Seemingly hard and immutable, in actuality even large boulders are easily manipulated, tossed around and thrown by benders like a child skipping a pebble on a pond. When applied with enough force, rocks shatter; and even when reformed into their approximate original size and shape they will bear countless seams, scars from their prior fragmentation.

You can only hope that Bolin will have the strength to stay whole.


End file.
